Nihongo Notes

The use of ...nante (to do...)

Mr Lerner and Miss Yoshida went to a resturant last Saturday evening. The resturant was unuasually crowded and they were told that they would have to wait for half an hour. Mr Lerner said
    Nagaku matsu nowa iya desu ne.
    (We don’t want to wait for a long time, do we?)
and Miss Yoshida agreed saying
    Bakarashii desu ne, sanjippun mo matsu nante.
    (No. It’s absurd to wait for 30 minutes.)
Mr. Lerner realized that he had not used ...nante in this way; he had always used it after nouns, as in tabako nante kirai desu. (I don’t like smoking.)

...nante is used as a contraction of nado or nado to yuu mono/koto/no, as in
    Tanaka san nante...
    (Tanaka san nado - such a person as Tanaka san)

    Osake nante...
    (Osake nado to yuu mono - such a thing as alcohol)

Sometimes a verb phrase can precede nante, which is used as a contraction of nado to yuu koto/no, as in
    asa hayaku okiru nante...
    (asa hayaku okiru nado to yuu koto - such a thing as getting up early)

    anna hito to tsukiau nante...
    (anna hito to tsukiau nodo to yuu no - such a thing as associating with a person like him.)

Using nante in this way usually implies dislike, contempt, surprise, admiration, etc. As compared with "(verb) nowa" in matsu nowa, and hataraku nowa, matsu nante, and hataraku nante express stronger emotion. For instance, nichiyobi ni made hataraku nowa (working even on Sundays) is usually followed by such statements as
    …kanshin shimasen. (I don’t think it good.)
    …yarisugi desu. (is going too far.)
On the other hand, nichiyoobi ni made hataraku nante is usually followed by an emotional statement such as
    …watashi wa iya desu ne. (I wouldn’t do that.)
    erai mon desu ne. (is really great, isn’t it?)


Follow this link for an index of Nihongo Notes
Nihongo Notes is taken from a series of columns that appeared in The Japan Times
written by Osamu and Nobuko Mizutani They are not designed to teach Japanese, so much
as they are to better one's Japanese.


[Home] [Photos] [Nihongo Notes] [Weather]
[Travel] [School] [Work] [Geocities]
Email Richard_Elieson@Notes.AMRCorp.com.


1